The present invention relates to food containers and relates in particular to the packaging of food products such as pies and cakes that have a fairly extensive areal surface that requires protection.
The invention is particularly useful as a container for pizza pies.
In the packaging of food products such as pizza pies, and like food products in "fast food" or "take out" establishments it is important to have a low cost, convenient container which protects the food product especially when loaded containers are stacked upon one another.
When stacked, the crown or central portion of the containers tend to collapse inwardly into contact with the food. This creates an undesirable situation especially when the food product is a hot freshly made pizza whose top dressing usually includes a sauce or melted cheese. The collapsed crown sticks to the top of the pizza making it difficult to separate the cover of the container from the pizza without creating a messy and untidy situation.
Prior art containers have approached this problem by providing a separate plastic or paperboard spacer, separate from and independent of the container, which is positioned upon the food product to keep the crown or central portion of the lid spaced from the surface of the food product.
While these prior art structures have a measure of utility, they have the disadvantages of (1) extra expense, (2) the problem of keeping inventory of containers consistent with inventory of spacers and (3) not being readily at hand at the moment the container is loaded with the food product.
A typical prior art spacer structure which is useful internally or externally of the container is disclosed and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,975,951 issued Mar. 21, 1961 to W. J. Bosche, Jr. A collar-like structure formed from strips of paperboard includes cleats 25 for connecting the collar to the outside top wall 1 of a food container. Obviously the collar could also be attached to the inside surface of the top wall to support the crown or central portion of the top wall.